Bitcoin Price Soars Above $9,000 Post-Facebook Digital Currency Announcement

For the first time in over year since May 2018, Bitcoin's price has risen. Dramatically. 

Is this pure chance, or brought on by bigger factors? 

Bigger factors most likely, as Facebook just announced on Tuesday its launch of Libra and Calibra, its digital currency and wallet.

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Thanks to Facebook's announcement, Bitcoin is up by 140 percent since the start of the year. 

It was high time for Bitcoin to regain momentum, after an abysmal year that saw the asset plunge by 70 percent. It wasn't the only digital currency to plummet though, as others also dropped in 2018. 

They are now all on the rise again, with Ether doubling, and XRP up by 23 percent compared to last year. Good news all around. 

Experts attribute the rise in these cryptocurrencies with global and well-known companies, like Facebook and AT&T joining the digital currency pack, adding some form of legitimacy. 

Cryptocurrencies have been speculatively linked with illegal activity, regulatory scrutiny, and inexplicable trading. A company as renown as AT&T stating last month that it would accept bitcoin payments through a partnership with BitPay, certainly adds a vote of confidence. 

Calibra, Facebook's digital currency is set to launch in 2020. Time alone will tell how cryptocurrencies will fare until then and after then.